Another weekend music thread. Post what ever floats yer boat. The linked tune in the title is a Malcolm McLaren tune called Eiffel Tower, from the 80's. 1984 to be specific. Mr McLaren has also performed a tune, Swamp Thing. An interesting tune. ...
U.S. producer prices unexpectedly fell in June, posting their biggest decline in 14 months amid a pullback in the cost of energy products, further evidence that inflation was subsiding before the recent escalation in the Middle East conflict. read more
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared Wednesday that the military would offer testosterone testing and replacement therapy for certain service members in a push to optimize their "natural capabilities."
Insider accounts reveal the scale of the health secretary's ambitions to curb childhood immunizations and unearth a link between vaccines and autism. read more
Russian hackers have been exploiting unsecured doorbell cameras and other internet-connected devices to spy on NATO military bases and weapons transport routes. This attack, revealed by Dutch intelligence, highlights the severe risks associated with poorly secured IP cameras and the consequences for organisations in the UK and across Europe.
Big local news story...
Family dog chases off bear charging toward young boy in Connecticut
www.msn.com
... A Connecticut family is praising their husky after the dog sprang into action and chased off a bear that charged toward a young boy in the family's driveway over the Fourth of July weekend.
Video obtained by KTLA shows the bear running up the driveway toward the child before Bella, the family's husky, sprints in to intercept it. The dog appears to bite the bear's hind leg, causing it to veer away from the boy before Bella continues chasing the animal down the driveway.
The child was unharmed, and Bella also escaped the encounter without injury.
The incident happened July 4 outside the family's home in Torrington, Connecticut, according to a report by People magazine, which cited local television station WTNH. ...
@#85 ... Wanting all soldiers to be clean shaven, trip, ripped, and roided up, while installing a makeup room in the pentagon and becoming a religious wackjob has everything to do with being a closeted gay. ...
You noticed that also?
And then there is Pres Trump's apparent infatuation with young handsome men.
Trump's Fixation' on Male Beauty Alarmed Admin Staff, Maggie Haberman Says: The President Has a Type'
www.yahoo.com
Now some numbers seem to be emerging...
Trump Media pitched $100,000 monthly fee for fastest feed of US president's posts, sources say
www.reuters.com
... Trump Media has also pitched $60,000 monthly three-year plan, people familiar with the matter said. Truth API will deliver posts from 10 influential accounts faster than for regular push notifications. Trump's trust holds about 114.75 million TMTG shares, or roughly 41% of outstanding stock, filings showed.
Donald Trump's social media company has discussed charging Wall Street traders and investment firms as much as $100,000 a month for faster access to the U.S. president's posts on his Truth Social platform, according to people familiar with the matter.
Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT.O), opens new tab, which owns Truth Social, has in recent weeks also pitched a discounted plan of $60,000 per month if the firms sign up for a three-year plan, the sources said, requesting anonymity as the discussions are confidential. ...
@#21 ... So, why might that visitor volume diminished?
Well, there seems to be this ...
Canada's U.S. Travel Boycott Is Forcing Las Vegas To Acknowledge The Consequences (August 2025)
www.thetravel.com
... The World Travel & Tourism Council's 2024 Economic Impact Trends Report revealed the United States was the world's most powerful travel and tourism market in 2024, contributing a record-breaking $2.36 trillion to its economy in 2023 alone.
Following such tourism success, travel forecasting company Tourism Economics anticipated back in December 2024 that the U.S. would have nearly 9% more international arrivals in 2025 than the previous year, but that was before global perception of the U.S. shifted following the Trump administration's political controversies, which have been driving international tourists, many from big-spending allied countries, into the arms of Canada instead.
Since then, the company has revised its predictions to a 9.4% drop, while warning the steepest tourism declines could be from Canada -- and it was right.
Canada's travel boycott of the U.S. is hitting America's travel and tourism sector hard.
20.2 million Canadians visited the U.S. in 2024, spending over $20 billion and supporting 140,000 American jobs, according to the U.S. Travel Association and recent figures from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).
That total represents 26% of America's 77 million tourists last year and makes Canada the largest source of visitors to the U.S.
This year, though, their absence -- and that $20 billion potential dent in the United States' pockets -- is being felt as Canadians' boycott continues into its seventh month; just as Tourism Economics announced on 22 August that overseas arrivals to the U.S. dropped 3.1% in July 2025 (a year-to-date downturn of 1.6%), it also noted Canadian visitation continues on a downward spiral"down 25.2% year to date, which includes a 37.0% drop in land arrivals in July alone, as well as air bookings from Canada to the U.S. down by 35.6% to 43.0% compared to this time last year. [can you say, "run-on sentence?" I knew you could.] ...
@#20 ... Nobody can grasp why tourism to the US continues to diminish. ...
I differ in that opinion.
I'd proffer that many people, especially those on tourism-enabled areas, know why their tourism is decreasing.
Las Vegas tourism drop leaves Nevada workers scrambling for shifts amid declining visitor volume (October 2025)
www.foxbusiness.com
... Visitor volume fell 11.3% in June as hotel occupancy rates declined across southern Nevada ...
The poor job market comes as tourism remains weak, a problem that's persisted for several months.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which releases a monthly summary of tourism data from several agencies including the LVCVA, Harry Reid International Airport, the Nevada Gaming Control Board and the NV Dept. of Transportation (NDOT), reported that southern Nevada's tourism sector showed clear signs of strain in June 2025 with visitor volume falling 11.3% compared to the same month last year. ...
So, why might that visitor volume diminished?
Vegetable supplier Taylor Farms to pull some products amid cyclosporiasis outbreak
thehill.com
... California-based vegetable producer Taylor Farms said Friday that it will remove products potentially linked to a growing cyclosporiasis outbreak across the country.
"Based on information provided yesterday by the FDA [Food and Drug Administration], Taylor Farms de Mexico is voluntarily removing all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico," the company said in its statement.
"While the FDA traceback is indicating a specific independent farm that represents less than 1% of the U.S.'s iceberg lettuce supply as the potential source of the outbreak, we have removed all iceberg lettuce from the region indefinitely," the statement continued. ...
Based upon Israel's current activities and action, I am beginning to wonder just how much gravitas AIPAC may or will have in the upcoming elections.
My current guess is that AIPAC may have a diminishing role.
AIPAC seems to be becoming like MAGA. A cult. A diminishing cult.